by Ken Pence
Rett said nothing for the better part of two hours as he prowled all over the ship and inspected every facet. “It is acceptable. I can have it ready by the time we reach Bellatrix. This human will not be necessary. I will give you my design changes before I leave in case you want to improve your own ships.”
“Thank you,” Kyger said to the alien’s retreating back. “You’re welcome,” he said softly to Tod. “He can hardly contain himself. I can tell. He’s blown away by our generosity isn’t he Tod?”
Tod laughed. “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the gray ghastly didn’t come up with some new twists we might use. What kind of armament?”
Kyger looked thoughtful. “Let him build whatever he can power into that thing and take notes. He never ceases to amaze me. We’d still be squirting hot exhaust gases out the back if it hadn’t been for him.”
“I’ll keep an eye on him boss. How often do you want briefings on him? I’ll keep him monitored.”
“Thanks, Tod. What do you think of these materials that were collected?”
“I think Phillips knows what to ask for...Tantallum...that’s the best stuff we’ve found for manufacturing touch screens. That stuff is worth much more than it’s weight in gold and so are most of the other materials. We’ve paid for the expedition even giving some of this to Rett.”
“Good. Would you put that in a report to me and I’ll send it to Sykes? We still have to find the other drone though it’s not quite where it’s supposed to be.”
It may have been fate but General Kyger’s MemDex indicated a high priority message. “The second drone has been found. The shuttle Albert is almost to it.”
The crew of the Albert sent the three one second bursts but nothing happened. There was no answering tone. Phillips had admitted in further questioning that this one had been sent first and no response had been received from this one. It was an early design without as many safeguards though it was supposed to have the same amount of explosive that was adapted for an airless environment.
A lone Tech with a portable molecular disruptor approached the drone only to find the cargo door wasn’t wide open – the whole side of the probe was gone. He cautiously approached and lighted the interior and then returned to the Albert. The Albert headed back to the Odin.
General Kyger met the Albert’s crew as the disembarked from the shuttle. “Well?” Kyger asked.
“It’s been completely looted sir. Anything that could have been removed has been removed sir. There were no controls, no power source, no explosives, no propulsion system – everything was completely ripped out. I imagine the shell would have been taken too if they, whoever they were, had had room for it. Sir.”
“Carry on. Send Lieutenant Atassi the vids of the interior,” Brad said.
“Sending vids as we speak sir...Done. Will that be all, sir?” the tech asked.
“That is all. Bet that was creepy on approach,” Brad said considered approaching a huge potential bomb in the blackness of space by your lonesome.”
“As hell, sir,” answered the Tech.
“What’s your name, soldier? Background?” Kyger asked.
“Peters, sir. Former air force master sergeant stationed at Vandenberg... Didn’t have enough college to rate higher but I’m studying up?”
“Keep at it, Peters,” Kyger said.
The second drone had been as disappointing as the first had been encouraging but they were now ready to fulfill their primary mission to map out a trading route to the trading port around Bellatrix. Their first mission was to test communications and sensors after they left the solar system.
General Kyger and Captain Shuler contacted Captain Williams aboard the Odin Junior and set up the test. The first stage was to test communications while moving. There were going to slowly move past the Oort Cloud at between 42 and 50 AU (Astronomical Units) and stop when they lost contact and attempt to locate the other ship with it’s stressed space field sensors. Their system had originally been shown to have a maximum detection range of a 5 parsec diameter area but that did not take into account any latency or delay in the sensor image and the actual ship. That detection was only at a dead stop and was nearly spherical. The detection was reduced as they were moving with the least detection range rearward in an ever narrowing ellipse at higher and higher speeds.
The Odin Junior seemed packed to the gills since every available space carried supplies for the journey. The ship was a bit larger having Tod, Desiree and Joel temporarily aboard the Odin. Their first destination was to be Sirius 2, an A1 star about 8.6 light years distant. The progress through the Oort Cloud was disappointing in its sparsely located bodies. They were able to send text messages at a fairly high rate while moving up to 10 times light speed. Moving to 200 lights cut off communications completely and the Junior was forced to stop and try its sensor systems.
Andrew asked Steve to lower the lighting and display the 3D grid. The room suddenly looked like the middle of space with nothing around but stars. The computer enhanced the image as if in space itself. “Computer. Display our position and show a stand off of half AU. Show our position.” A green dot appeared in the center of the display. “What is the greatest distance you can discern a stellar mass?” Andrew asked.
“I can detect planetary masses out to 6 parsecs – almost 20 light years.”
“Can you detect the Odin? Is there another ship within five light years of us that you can detect?”
The computer displayed a red dot moving away from them. “There is a high probability that this is the Odin. It is now stationary.”
Andrew asked. “Computer. What is the distance to the Odin?”
“It is 0.4 light years distant,” said the computer. “We have received a message from the Odin.”
“Please read it to me,” Andrew said.
Navigation and communications work well until a threshold of about 100 lights. You dropped off communications at that point. Sensor system works to 6 parsecs at stop. Moving greatly reduces range. Some latency. Meet at coordinates ½ light year from Sirius 2. Confirm.”
Computer. Send them the following message. “Confirm coordinates...½ light year. Similar communication drop out but at 75 lights, not 100...Sensor range similar with some latency...Can detect movement at 1.2 light years. Meet you at the rendezvous. Williams out.”
“Computer. Any movement of ships detected in the Sirius system?” Andrew asked.
“Undetermined,” said the computer.
“Computer. What does undetermined mean as you have used it?” Andrew asked.
“I cannot determine if any sensor data is a ship,” said the computer.
“Computer. Return us to course at 80% maximum speed,” Andrew said.
“On course. 380 lights Captain.”
Andrew said. “Steve, you’re on watch. Ling will replace you at 2200. I’m going to do some research.”
“Computer. Maintain sensor contact with Odin. Adjust speed up to 90% maximum to get us within 1 AU if possible. Notify me of any major changes or other ships besides the Odin are detected,” Steve said. He was proud of the Junior, as he had designed many of the systems.
The days flew by swiftly. The Junior arrived at the rally point to find the Odin on sensors as soon as they stopped. They moved closer. A shuttle collected Captain Andrew Williams and Susan. They were escorted to a conference room to join Captain Shuler, Admiral-General Brad Kyger, Tod, Desiree and a grizzled hulk of a Combat Senior Chief Traci Warrington.
Captain Shuler led the introductions and welcome and then turned on the 3D display from the latest sensor sweeps of the area. Brad took over.
“We started sensor sweeps when we got close. Captain UmBllatt had said there was a large manufacturing complex here and we could get a wide variety of products or technical support here. He said it was little visited because of ES regulations. Rett has never heard of it.” Brad paused and let Shuler take over.
“We’ve located a large stressed space field enclosure on the third p
lanet. There was one ship leaving just as we arrived. I doubt they saw us. The planet is at about 4.3 AU because Sirius A is a binary A1 white star. The second star appears to be a much smaller...a remnant. Sirius 3 – we don’t have a name for the planet on UmBllatt’s chart. It appears to be young planet with little atmosphere, lots of ultraviolet with shallow seas if our spectral analysis is correct. We know nothing of the services or defenses or procedures,” Shuler said. “I intend to move closer using the binary star and debris field to shield us from sensors. I propose Senior Chief Warrington make a recon of the facility. Senior Chief. You have the proposed flight plans. How long do you need?” Shuler said.
“72 hours actual should do it Captain. I wouldn’t want my people to be in suits much longer than that no matter how much I like the design,” Warrington said.
“How long before you can begin Senior Chief?” Admiral Kyger asked.
“One hour normal, Admiral. We’ve been planning and laying probable scenarios out for the last 24 sir,” Warrington said.
“No communications unless it’s an emergency. No contact unless it’s an emergency. Hightail it back here if you run into anything...how will you get close?” Captain Shuler asked.
“No comm, no contact. Run and hide. Understood sir. That nanotech surface hides visual optical frequencies and the meta-materials mask the infrared and microwave frequencies. We can’t mask the drive field but we’ll use pressors when we get close. Our simulations show they have a very low sensor signature,” the Senior Chief finished.
“Good hunting,” Captain Shuler said and the Senior Chief saluted and exited. “Folks, let’s plan a few contingencies including a go to hell plan,” he said.
Susan said, “A what?”
Shuler grinned. “A go to hell plan is one starting right now. What do we do and where do we go if it all goes bad and we have to run and fight. Let’s rally at this these coordinates – he transmitted the coordinates to all their respective MemDexs. We recover the shuttle and run if faced with more than two ships larger than the Junior or any ship that out-masses or outclasses us.”
“How will we determine outclasses us?” Andrew asked Shuler.
“If they can approach us stealthily or can manipulate our fields or appear technologically superior and challenge us – to put it succinctly – we bail,” Shuler said and the group agreed.
Admiral General Kyger was letting Shuler get his feet wet on active combat planning. He didn’t intend to step in unless he needed to add suggestions. The plan was to take the recon and then have the Junior - hail and try to trade. The Odin would stand by on overwatch and a shuttle full of battle suits would stand by...in the event... Andrew would be in the battle armor lite with Desiree as linguist. She had been stocking up on the plethora of language training cylinders that Captain UmBllatt had left. He had left seventeen different varieties besides Trade.
The preparation and tension was palpable on both ships as they waited for them to return. The Albert returned to the dock 71 hours after it left. Andrew hoped Senior Chief Warrington was as competent as he was punctual.
The Chief saw that the ship was retrofitted and all suits were brought up to snuff and gear prepared before he came to the conference room. Everyone had been assembled and waiting for 15 minutes.
Shuler ushered the Chief into the room and ordered him to relax for the debriefing.
The Chief tapped his MemDex and turned down the lights to display the videos. “It’s a huge complex sirs.” The image panned around the entire perimeter and showed one ship on a flat surface near a body of water with lots of amino acids but no microbes of any kind – no bacteria or surface life that we can detect at all. It’s bright sirs...white light with a lot of ultraviolet. They don’t seem to have any active detection system. They had no electromagnetic transmissions of any type. The field completely covers the complex and the obvious landing field is near the largest of four entrances. They are guarded by beings in suits and carrying weapons that may be molecular disruptors I’ve seen pictured in the trade manual that went online a few months ago.”
“I’ve seen the one I think you mean,” Tod said. “Your suits should render it ineffective but it’d take your head off without a helmet. Sorry to butt in.”
“Quite all right, Doctor. Confirms my opinion,” Warrington said. “There are about a 100,000 beings inside.”
“Whoa,” Admiral Kyger spoke up. “How do you know that, Senior Chief?”
“We followed some vehicles inside after they delivered supplies to the ship on the field outside. No one saw us. Those suits work great. The guards weren’t looking for anyone coming in. Here’s the video,” he said and everyone stared at the video.
Desiree inhaled sharply when she saw the guards. “Are they tripeds?” she asked.
“Not really, Doctor,” Chief Warrington explained and started a running commentary of the bustling complex. “The third appendage appears to be like a kangaroo tail for fighting. See how they slap each other with them. That’s the closest we could tell at first until we saw some without pressure suits. Here it comes,” he said and the view changed to a group of aliens and one with the third appendage that looked like a cross between a kangaroo tail with a flat tip that was used for balance. The alien was VERY male from its clothing.”
“What are those colored collars they are wearing? Even the guards have them. Are they communications gear or like ID cards of some kind?” Susan asked.
“Good guess, Doctor Siriluk,” he said to Susan. “We couldn’t detect any radio transmissions and the atmosphere inside was an oxygen nitrogen mix with a little higher oxygen and carbon dioxide content. We mapped out the facility as best we could. We thought we’d be pushing our luck since everyone coming in or out of a building had to stop for a moment until there was a tone. We saw seven different species but most were speaking in Trade.”
“You got close enough for that and you thought it was too dangerous to go inside...” Brad chuckled. No one would fault these folks had guts.
The Chief displayed the computer enhanced diagrams of the buildings. There were quite a few dotted lines to indicate no information or views were blocked. More videos of the different species were then displaying as they moved crates and boxes from one building to others. “Here is the piece de resistance coming up,” the Chief said.
The people in the room leaned toward the display. A squat biped was pushing a cart when one of the kangaroo types came up to him and started yelling about production quotas. He – definitely a he – reached into a box and pulled out a teaching cylinder. He started yelling at the squat being in a strange language. He then reached into another box and pulled out another one. He started yelling some more.
“Look at the color band. Go back,” Desiree exclaimed and the Chief backed up ‘til the being was seen holding up two cylinders. “Hold it there. Zoom in a bit. That’s it. Look. Those are different colors. Maybe they represent different languages. Chief. Zoom in on the manager and then the squat being. See. Those are different colors too and not the same. Go back to where we saw the group of different species walking. Yeah. There. That’s it. No. That can’t be right. They are all wearing the same color neckbands and there are four different species. Chief. Did you catch any of their conversation?” Desiree asked.
“I think so ma’am but it’s very faint. Computer. Amplify audio 300% and filter,” the Chief said and played the audio. It was barely recognizable Trade but no one could discern the topic.
Andrew spoke up. “Why don’t we get Rett up here and show him. Maybe he can shed some life on this?”
Captain Shuler touched his MemDex and indicated he needed Rett to join them as soon as possible.
The sergeant approached Rett as he worked on the conversion of the drone. “The Captain wants to talk with you now,” he said.
Rett looked at the man and said nothing. He went back to work.
“Now,” said the man.
Rett looked at the man and saw he was not smiling or showi
ng his teeth. He released a sigh that would have done a debutante proud and left his tools and started walking away from the ship. At least the man was being polite by not showing his teeth.
The door to the conference room opened and Rett was ushered through. He stood there saying nothing.
Captain Shuler repeated the video of the exterior view of the manufacturing enclosure, the guards, the groups of aliens, and the supervisor holding up the two cylinders.
“What can you tell me about this video?” Shuler asked.
“Where did you get this?” Rett asked.
“A planet near us? Anything you can tell us would be useful?” Shuler said.
“Very important...Very dangerous. This is a learning machine recording facility,” Rett said.
“...For languages?” Desiree asked.
“Languages,” Rett answered. “Technical cylinders, history, mathematics, all sciences. Very important and very illegal.”
“Why?” Brad asked.
“Slaves,” Rett answered.
“Slaves?” Andrew asked. “...and slavery is illegal.”
Rett snorted. “No...slavery is legal. These beings, probably these,” he said pointing to the kangaroo tailed ones – “probably from the system you call Aldebaran. They like binary stars. They are known for not being trustworthy but good business beings. Illegal because they violate ES charter for improper extension of contracts and collars.”
“Tell us about the collars,” Brad said.
“They have a small explosive that severs the spine if the owner is displeased. They are color coded by specialty. Location of this facility is a big secret,” Rett said shocked that these beings had found a facility that many had sought but never found. They would make good trade here.
